10 Key Tips To Maintain Weight Loss After WLS

November 30, 2020

Maintain Weight Loss After WLS: Enjoy a Healthier, Better-Balanced Lifestyle

You’ve made the decision to change your life through bariatric surgery! The next step is to develop healthy habits so you can optimize your health and successfully maintain weight loss after WLS.

10 Key Tips to Maintain Weight Loss After WLS

Exercise is the key for weight maintenance! You need to make exercise an important part of your life in order to be successful after weight loss surgery. Just as you make time in your busy day for a phone call with a friend or a meeting, you should schedule time for exercise as well.

Exercise is defined as cardio that increases your heart rate and makes you sweat or weight lifting that leaves your muscles sore. It is equally important to do both! Keeping your exercise varied will help keep you interested and give your body the maximum benefit.

A minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week has been shown to be one of the best predictors of weight maintenance.

After weight loss surgery it is essential to adopt an active lifestyle. It is helpful at first to start tracking your steps. A goal of 10,000 steps per day has been shown to lower glucose and insulin response after a meal which is responsible for fat storage. It can also provide a sense of achievement and satisfaction. This can be easier than it sounds.

Instead of taking the elevator, consider taking the stairs. Consider going for a walk while talking to someone on the phone instead of sitting inside. Also, schedule walks with friends or family to catch up. When you make these small changes it goes a long way to increasing your activity which will help to maintain your weight loss.

You have probably been told a million times by your surgeon how important hydration is, that is because it is! Not only is your body 70% water, but adequate water consumption also helps with maintaining weight loss.

Oftentimes when people feel hungry it is actually your body being thirsty, so consider drinking a large glass of water sufficient time before every meal. There are many applications for smartphones where you can log your water intake to ensure you are getting a minimum for 64 ounces per day, the apps will also send you reminders when you haven’t drunk water in a while!

Nutrition labels can be intimidating. However, there are a few essential things to start looking for on labels. The first is the serving size. It is important to measure your food and determine how many servings you are actually consuming.

Then look at the calories. If you are eating more than one serving you will need to multiply the calories by the number of servings in order to know how many calories you are really consuming.

Also, determine what type of food you are eating; carbohydrate, fat, or protein. You can determine this by looking at the total carbohydrate, total fat, and protein on the label. Whichever number is highest is what the product actually is. This will help you minimize your carbohydrate intake. And remember your evening meal should be carbohydrate-free and only consist of protein and vegetables!

Processed foods and take out tend to be high in sodium and have large portion sizes. Additionally, it can be expensive. It can be very helpful in weight maintenance for you to become a chef at home. Buy a cookbook or find healthy recipes online (be sure to read the nutrition labels!) and make a menu for the week.

Save recipes that you find delicious and easy to make and form a go-to recipe collection. If you are really busy on certain days you can prepare meals in advance and store them in the fridge. You can also make cooking more fun and social by doing it with friends or family instead of going out to dinner or dancing to your favorite music while following the recipe.

Sleep deprivation starts as soon as you get less than 7 hours of sleep. Two hormones that help regulate hunger, ghrelin and leptin, are affected by sleep.

Ghrelin stimulates appetite and the levels are increased when the body is sleep-deprived. Establish a consistent sleep schedule and routine to help maintain your weight loss.

Your body gains weight when you take in calories that you do not burn off. This is because unused calories are stored as fat. Going to sleep directly after you eat means your body doesn’t get a chance to burn off those calories.

Additionally, allowing your body adequate time for digestion is important for a healthy sleep routine. Waiting about 3 hours between your last meal and bedtime allows the contents of your stomach to move into your small intestine and prevents problems like heartburn at night.

Finally, many studies have actually shown that individuals who eat closer to their bedtime eat more calories, leading to weight gain.

Stress causes an increase in cortisol which stimulates your appetite. Decreasing your stress level is important for your overall health and for weight maintenance.

Consider trying stress-relieving practices such as yoga or meditation. These can be helpful not only in improving your mental wellness and decreasing your stress, but they can also teach you effective methods for dealing with cravings and other emotions that can lead to overeating.

You should keep a weight loss journal during your journey after surgery. Pick a time (usually first thing in the morning) on one day of the week to weigh yourself. Record your weight each week so you can see your progress. Make sure to include your goal weight.

Once you reach your goal weight, write down a red flag weight. This red flag weight should be about 5 pounds above your goal weight. It is normal for your weight to fluctuate a few pounds from week to week but if you hit this red flag weight it is time to take action.

If you hit the red flag weight you should make a weight loss plan and be sure to hold yourself accountable. Also, that is a trigger to make an appointment with your surgeon because there are many resources available to help prevent weight regain.

Annual visits are important for many reasons. You should check in with your surgeon in order to have blood work done to check your vitamins and minerals as well as to ensure maintenance of your weight loss.

Don’t forget there are often many resources available including nutritionists and medications to help prevent weight regain. Everyone wants to see patients succeed in their weight loss journey!

Read more articles by Dr. Megan Jenkins!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Megan Jenkins, MD is a minimally invasive surgeon specializing in robotics, advanced laparoscopy, bariatrics, and general surgery at NYU Langone Weight Management Program in New York City. She is from Upstate New York and graduated from the University of Rochester with a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry and math. She completed medical school and general surgery residency training at New York University. This prestigious surgical training program provided intense exposure not only to a broad spectrum of disease but also to the latest and continually emerging technology.

---